Musicology: Meredith Music Festival

IF you need proof there is no festival quite like the Meredith Music Festival,
consider these two wildly different scenes from the same day of this year's
event.

In the early afternoon, in the baking hot sun, thousands of punters
held a shoe aloft as a sign of appreciation for Big Jay McNeely, an 85-year-old
sax player, and his blues band and their 1940's R&B.

Later that
afternoon, those same thousands of punters gleefully song along to the choruses
of Aussie band Regurgitator's infamous 1997 techno track I Will Lick Your
Asshole.

This year's Meredith took its reputation for eclecticism to new
heights, taking in everything from Syrian electro-dance music to Norwegian
"deathpunk", and providing 11,500 with yet another excellent weekend to
remember.

The opening slot on Friday used to be a quiet affair, but
organisers have started putting bigger drawcards into poll position, bringing
larger crowds into the Supernatural Amphitheatre to kick off the festivities in
the early afternoon.

This year the honour went to Perth band Pond, who began
Meredith 22 in superb style, merging dreamy Pink Floyd verses with riffy Black
Sabbath choruses. It set something of a recurring theme for the weekend -
psychedelia and jamming are back.

After a largely unimpressive set from
up-and-comers Snakadaktal (although the crowd responded well to their hits),
Californian instrumental trio Earthless took up the theme. They had no time for
hits - their excellent 40-minute set comprising two or three "songs" and near
endless jams that strove higher and higher.

Occasionally, when you least
expected it, Earthless locked together and smashed out a mammoth stoner riff.
They were so good they overcame the fact there was barely any bass in the mix,
one of the few mis-steps from the sound engineers over the weekend (who
traditionally do an amazing job).

Grimes proved popular, but the welcome
reserved for iconic Sydney power-popsters Sunnyboys was that of returning
heroes. It was only the second gig for the original line-up in 28 years, and
while time may have wearied them slightly, they pulled together a strong set of
old hits and new material.

The psychedelic jamming continued with
Spiritualized, whose lengthy space-pop tracks occasionally touched on the
spiritual thanks to the two female backing singers and seated frontman Jason
Pierce's lazer guided melodies of uplifting lyrics.

The big throng of the
night followed, with seemingly everyone at the festival flocking to the
Amphitheatre for Tame Impala.

"This is the best festival in the world,"
exclaimed frontman Kevin Parker to the crowd, "but you already knew
that."

More psychedelia followed, with tracks from their two albums bursting
forth in a compact but tasty sonic wall. Kudos to the sound engineers - Tame
Impala had the best sound of the festival.

The post-1am DJs began with Omar
Souleyman, all the way from Damascus, who played to a crowd that seemed to be
made up of people just discovering they liked Syrian electro or people that were
on drugs that made them love Syrian electro.

The Meredith weather gods love
to throw everything at the punters - one-in-100-year storms, 40-degree-plus
weekends, 48 hours of rain. This year it was the wind, which whipped in 60km/h
gusts on Saturday morning as people wrestled to keep their tents from flying off
like the house in The Wizard Of Oz.

The cyclonic breeze lay waste to
shelters, turning the camping grounds into a disaster zone. Then came the news
that even stronger winds - gusts of up to 90km/h - were predicted for the
afternoon. Many festival-goers gave up trying to keep a roof over their heads
and went to the bar.

Melbourne's Chet Faker was apparently goose-bump
inducing in the 30-degree heat, but it was the octogenerian Big Jay McNeely that
stole the show. Despite being the oldest performer to ever grace the
Supernatural Amphitheatre, McNeely received an unanimous "boot" - the
shoe-in-the-air sign of appreciation that began at sister festival Golden Plains
and has spilled into Meredith - for his saxy blues and old, old, old school
rock'n'roll.

The highlights kept coming on Saturday afternoon. The
"undisputed beatbox champion of the world", Rahzel dug deep into his bag of
tricks, tackling one-man versions of Black Sabbath's Iron Man and his own track
If Your Mother Only Knew by singing lyrics, basslines and beats simultaneously -
and blowing minds.

Alt-country troupe The Toot Toot Toots also took some
hip-hop inspiration, blasting out an awesome cover of Fatman Scoop's Put Your
Hands Up and building to a massive finale (earning a scattered "boot"), while
Melbourne funk band Saskwatch brought the good times.

The second most
enthusiastic "boot" of the weekend was for Regurgitator, who dug deep into their
catalogue, rocking the likes of Kong Foo Sing, Black Bugs, The Song Formerly
Known As and Blubber Boy. They got the Saturday night party started and were a
definite highlight of the weekend.

Norway's Turbonegro were impressive and
confirmed the suspicion that they are the punk world's answer to Kiss, while
Primal Scream stormed through hits such as Loaded, Movin' On Up, Rocks and
Swastika Eyes, despite the seeming disinterest of singer Bobby
Gillespie.

More minds were blown by the now-traditional Meredith Sky Show and
DJ Flagrant's VJ Show, which kicked off the dance party of Sunday's wee
hours.

The crawl home began on Sunday morning. Some stuck around to see
Boomgates and The Murlocs or to run in the "world's stupidest footrace", the
nude running race that is the Meredith Gift, but as always, no matter what time
you leave the Nolan farm it is bittersweet. You don't want to leave the greatest
festival in the world, but you really can't wait for a shower and a proper
night's sleep.